Knotty Azizah And The Jinniyah
by DavidPresents
Summary: A damsel in distress story based on some Arabian Nights characters, along with someone new! Rated for light bondage.


In time of yore and days long gone before (which is so much chaff, for our story takes place in the present) there was an American damsel of Middle Eastern ancestry named Azizah. Azizah had long, straight hair, black like the tendrils of night. Her carnelian lips always seemed to smile in invitation, her hazel eyes danced endlessly in merriment, and her flawless skin, musk in scent and hue, was silky soft as could be.

"Stop, Phil! Stop! Stop now!" she shouted in excitement, and Phil, wondering what had startled her so, applied the brakes and swerved his pick-up truck into a gravel parking lot by the side of the twisty mountain highway.

He glanced around. "What is it?" he asked, before noticing the wooden shop, the building designed to look older than it was. It had a sharply sloping roof, typical of the distinctive architecture of the Adirondacks. A buggy rested on the grass outside. A faded sign read, in ornate letters, **Lilah's Unique Treasures**. "Oh, no," he groaned in frustration. "Come on, Zee, do we have to stop at every antique store?"

"Oh, come on, Phil; it'll be fun!" she exclaimed, pushing her stylish amber eyeglasses back up her nose. She bounded eagerly out of the cab. "Who knows what we'll find?"

"Probably a lot more junk," he replied, looking at the back of his truck, already carrying two chests of drawers, a small table, and a… something. Phil didn't know what that last bit of furniture was called or what possible purpose it could serve, and he didn't care, either, although Azizah had practically swooned when she first saw it.

"It's not junk, Phil," she informed him, putting her hands on her hips and glaring good-naturedly at him. "They're all important historical artifacts, or at least, some of them are. You know, at one time the people who owned these things thought they were very modern and up-to-date, and they can teach us a lot about what life was like back then."

Phil sighed, watching her twirl away. He had known Azizah a short time and his initial enthusiasm for her was fading. Still, she was very attractive, he admitted, admiring her from behind. She wore a peach blouse with subtle green designs, a light-blue mid-length skirt, and white sandals that scrunched in the gravel as she sashayed up to the store.

He sighed dreamily, imagining himself reaching for the rope he carried in the truck, which he had used to secure the old furniture. He would make a lasso and loop it around Azizah, and then, binding her securely, place her in her seat, spin away, and head for the nearest country music dance club.

"Well, are you coming?" Azizah asked. Phil shook the image from his head and the pair walked inside.

"Let the buyer beware" has to be the motto of the antique collector. Age alone does not justify a high price. There are also numerous counterfeits, and yet, some imitations have earned value in their own right! Still, as Azizah methodically rummaged through the quiet store, she quickly determined there was nothing of interest to her.

Phil, meanwhile, settled himself in a soft chair, checking his cell phone for messages. He glanced over as Azizah wiped her dusty hands and frowned absently. Once again, he imagined the rope. This time he could see himself tying her to one of the large wooden beams that rose from the floor to support the high ceiling. She would plead with him to set her free, but he would refuse, until she agreed to stop shopping for old junk and take up some new interests more in line with his, such as college football and stock-car racing.

"I don't see anything I like," she pouted.

"Good, we can go!" announced Phil, hopping up.

"Just a minute, Phil. I want to talk to this Lilah, first. I wonder if she's in the back?" Azizah circled behind counter and parted a large, purple curtain. "Yoo-hoo!" she called. Getting no answer, she stepped inside.

Phil sighed and sank down in the chair again, continuing his daydream. Azizah was still tied to the post and saying that from now on whenever they watched a movie, she always wanted it to be an action-packed thriller!

"Phil! Look at this!"

"What?" he asked, snapping back to reality. Azizah held an oddly curved bottle of yellow copper in her trembling hands. "It's just some old container," he said critically. "Doesn't exactly look American."

"You're right about that, Phil," she agreed, placing the bottle on the counter as he came over to examine it. "It's quite ancient, more than a thousand years old, from Asia; I'm not sure where, exactly. It's definitely different from the Early American items for sale here."

"I don't think it _is_ for sale," Phil informed her. "That's why it was in the back. Can we go now?"

"In a minute, Phil. Can you give me your pocketknife?"

Phil handed it over automatically. "What do you want it for?" he asked and then he gave a gasp of alarm. "No, Azizah! You can't open that!"

"Oh, where's your spirit of adventure?" Azizah twisted the knife to loosen the seal. "It feels so heavy. I wonder what's inside? Maybe there's a jinni trapped in it who'll come out and grant us wishes!"

"It's probably empty," Phil stated flatly. He looked back at the store door, feeling uneasy. What if Lilah suddenly returned and found them tampering with her property?

"There, that's got it!" announced Azizah, absently slipping the pocketknife into a skirt pocket. She tilted the bottle slightly, and then turned it completely upside down to see what would emerge.

Absolutely nothing happened.

"I told you it was empty!" announced Phil in relief. "Come on now, Zee, we've spent enough time here. Let's go!"

"Oh, all right." They turned to leave. With their backs to the counter, they did not notice the smoke that now slowly spiraled from the bottle and coalesced onto the floor.

___

"Azizah, what have you done?!" exclaimed Phil in a panic. He had turned around and was now staring in horror as the bottle emptied its contents. "I told you to leave that alone. Now you've unleashed a demon!"

"What?" asked Azizah, a smile playing on her lips as she walked back to the counter. The smoke was forming into sections, ashy white, platinum gray, charcoal black. "That's no demon, Phil, though maybe some people think of him as one. He's my dear friend…"

"Hey, baby," interrupted The Wolf, smoothing out his fur. "Thanks for getting me out."

"Wolfy, have you been misbehaving again?" she asked him in mock severity.

"No, baby," he answered. "You see, what happened was, I met the girl who owns this place, Lilah. I knew there was something magical about her, and I was right. She's a genie!"

"You mean a jinniyah," Azizah corrected him automatically.

"Yeah, if you say so, baby," agreed The Wolf. "Anyhow, I was just being friendly with her, nothing serious, having a bit of fun, when all of a sudden she got real possessive and then popped me inside that bottle for no reason at all!" And then, noticing the skeptical look on Azizah's face, he remembered he hadn't rewarded her yet for rescuing him, so he held her in his paws and gave her a long kiss.

"Hey, you can't kiss my girlfriend!" protested Phil, conveniently setting aside the idea that he wasn't planning on her remaining his girlfriend much longer.

The Wolf stared at him with genuine astonishment. "What do you mean, I can't kiss her?" he finally asked. "I just did!"

"Well, don't do it again," ordered Phil.

The Wolf swept Azizah into a tight embrace and planted another kiss on her startled lips, while Phil sputtered indignantly.

The front door banged open. "What are you doing, you dog?!" demanded a new voice as Lilah roared into the building. Her black hair was permed into frizzy curls. Silver hoop earrings sparkled by her flushed cheeks; gold bangles glittered on her arms. She wore a red woman's business suit over a white blouse with black dots. The hem of her skirt was very short and the heels of her shoes remarkably thin and high, thus drawing attention to her shapely legs, for she had no illusions about the quality of her merchandise and wished to keep all eyes focused elsewhere.

"Hey, baby," The Wolf greeted her lazily.

She strode forward majestically, earning Phil's admiring attention. She noticed his reaction, but, as he did not concern her just then, she mentally filed it for future reference. "I thought I put you away quite secure, dog. What are you doing out here?"

"I think it was very mean of you to trap Wolfy like that," Azizah told Lilah.

"I'm sorry, but I'm sure I didn't ask for your input, Four Eyes," retorted Lilah with fire.

"Yeah, well, it was fun and everything being in there," announced The Wolf, lifting an arm to check his wristwatch, "but I've got to run. I'll see you later, okay, baby?"

"The only place you're going is back inside my bottle, dog!" Lilah stabbed the air with an angry finger. A thin arc of lightning sparked forth, but The Wolf, who wasn't about to be caught twice, lifted his paw so that the face of his watch reflected the spell back at Lilah. With a startled scream, the jinniyah dissolved and drifted back into the bottle.

Not that she stayed inside for a second. With a furious hiss, the smoke spiraled out again, slowly re-forming, much to Azizah's concern. "Um, Wolfy, are you going to be okay?" she asked.

"Sure, baby." He walked unhurriedly past the purple curtains, emerging a moment later with a bundle under one arm. Ignoring Lilah, who continued to take shape, he unrolled it to reveal a rectangular rug, about six feet wide by nine feet long, made of beautiful silk sumptuously woven in complex designs of burgundy, violet, forest green, saffron yellow, and eggshell white. He seated himself comfortably near the center and patted the empty space beside him. "Care for a ride, baby?"

"No, Azizah doesn't want to ride with you!" answered Phil furiously.

"Please don't be rude, Phil," said Azizah mildly. "I'm sorry, Wolfy, but I can't just now. I'm out with Phil."

"I'll give you that ride later, and that's a promise." The carpet rose off the floor and drifted forward. The door opened by itself, and, as Azizah gave a small sigh of disappointment, The Wolf floated out into the afternoon sky.

___

Lilah, when she finished solidifying, turned to the person she considered responsible for The Wolf's escape, who was, of course, Azizah. There was such malice in Lilah's face that Azizah took a nervous step backwards. She realized in sudden shock that Lilah was no ordinary jinniyah, but actually an ifritah, a particularly malignant and powerful type of jinniyah who enjoys creating evil for its own sake. Azizah looked to Phil for help, but he merely stood quietly, a look of stupefied adoration on his face as he watched Lilah.

"I'll show you how I deal with people who interfere with my plans!" Lilah jabbed with her finger, emitting another miniature bolt of lightning. Azizah lowered her head and shut her eyes, so she missed seeing the spell bounce of her glasses and ricochet over to a love seat that promptly shrank and flew into the copper bottle.

"I already have the inside decorated to my taste, thank you very much," fumed Lilah. "I don't want that in there. For that matter, I don't know why I did that; I don't want you in there, either. However, I am going to deal with you. Nobody interferes with my plans and gets away with it!"

"Come on, Phil, let's get out of here," decided Azizah, trying to take him by the hand.

"No, Zee, we just met Lilah," he replied. "I want to get to know her a little better. You can go, though."

"Phil, I'm so glad you've decided to stay," announced Lilah, favoring him with the sort of smile a cobra might give a cornered mouse. "Could you do me a teeny little favor?"

"No, Phil, let's go!" pleaded Azizah.

"Anything for you, Lilah," Phil breathed in ecstasy.

"Grab her and hold her tight!" ordered Lilah.

"No!" screamed Azizah, but Phil, due to a quick spell from the ifritah, discovered he suddenly had iron strength so that he wrapped his arms around Azizah, holding her back against his chest while his arms kept her arms pinned. She kicked furiously backwards at his shins and stomped down on his feet, but with the enchantment, he felt nothing, although later he discovered numerous black and blue marks there.

"Is this good, Lilah?" he asked, longing for approval.

"Oh, yes, my big, strong man, that's just perfect," she reassured him, hunting behind the counter for the yellow, nylon rope she usually used for tying furniture onto vehicles but which she realized would work just as well for tying interfering damsels. "I'm so glad to have you to help out poor little me."

"Phil, let me go," begged Azizah, but he made no reply, continuing to gaze at Lilah as she came to stand in front of Azizah, smiling in cold triumph. Azizah gave a kick forward, meeting nothing but air with her foot, for the ifritah, expecting such a move, had dematerialized her lower body.

"Nice try," she sneered as Azizah opened her mouth in astonishment. Pop, inside went an unused cleaning cloth. "Tape can seal lips as well as boxes," she observed, doing just that. She wrapped the rope around Azizah's lower legs, coiling around her ankles and just below the end of her skirt. Lilah tied Azizah's wrists together in front of her stomach and secured them in place with more rope running around her back.

"Perfect!" she observed stepping back.

"Mpfff!" protested Azizah, still struggling in Phil's grasp.

"That was a great job of tying her up, Lilah," announced Phil, feeling a little envious in seeing her do what he had only ever dreamed of doing.

"Everything I do always is." She snapped her fingers so that Phil lost his strength.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed, releasing Azizah and bending down to rub his legs gingerly. He looked up to discover Lilah hovering in the air with Azizah held in her arms. Azizah gave him a desperate pleading glance. "Wait!" he shouted, but it was too late. Lilah and the bound Azizah floated out the open door. Phil tried to follow, but they disappeared into the sky.

___

"Struggling like that will just speed things up," Lilah informed Azizah. The ifritah floated in the air a few feet in front of her captive. "I would think you wouldn't be in such a hurry to fall, but it's your funeral."

"Mpfff!" answered Azizah angrily, but she did keep still. She remained gagged as before and her legs were still tied together. Her arms, however, were now stretched over her head and away from her body in opposite directions. Ropes wrapped around each wrist and then rose up over the sharp edge of a cliff; their ends were tied around two small saplings. She noticed in alarm that the gray rocks had already cut slightly into those ropes!

"Of course, you cannot keep completely still," Lilah mused, as if she were examining some abstract problem. "Eventually the ropes will break, and down you'll go!"

Azizah kept quiet, contenting herself with a defiant look.

"Well, unlike you, I can't hang around here," announced Lilah, rising slightly. "I do have a store to run."

Azizah watched in despair as Lilah flew away. How was she going to escape? She had observed the landscape when Lilah had brought her here. There was no road or even a hiking trail here in this remote part of the Adirondack Mountains. No one was going to stumble upon her. Phil's pocketknife nestled in her skirt pocket, tantalizingly out of reach. She glanced down. The forest floor appeared very far below her.

She twisted her head to peer up in response to a soft rustling sound. A curious brown squirrel gazed down at her. Azizah recalled stories where sometimes damsels in distress had used animals to send messages for help. However, now that she was in this position, she realized just how preposterous that was. "Even if it were a more useful animal, like a dog, I don't see what I could do in this position.

"But there must be some way I can get out of this!" she thought frantically, twisting her arms, for she was unable to keep still, which, of course, caused the ropes to fray just a tiny bit more. "Phil!" she suddenly remembered. "Of course he will have followed us somehow, and even now he's coming to my rescue!"

A louder rustling noise raised her hopes. She glanced up again, only to discover the squirrel had returned along with a friend, both of whom looked at her in wonderment. A small, black pigeon landed nearby. The breeze blew, stirring tall grasses. However, no Phil appeared, as she swayed slightly, cutting the ropes just that much more.

Her hopes weakened as she recalled, uncomfortably, how Phil had acted back in the store; how he had held her tight so Lilah could bind her. "But maybe it was just an enchantment," she told herself. "Lilah used magic to make him fall in love with her, but he's shaken it off now and is on his way!

"I've got to keep still until he gets here," she told herself, but it was hard to do so. "I simply must. Phil is probably having some trouble reaching me, but I know he's coming to my rescue and will be here any second!"

___

Thus concerning Aziza, but as for Phil, when he saw her carried off his first thought was that he would race after her in his pickup truck. It had four-wheel drive and new tires, so he could roar up steep inclines and bound over rocky fields. Nothing would stop him from rescuing her! He could follow her anywhere!

Well, not absolutely anywhere, he realized as he reached for the door handle. After all, they had the advantage of flying; they had soared away from the road, over the forest. His vehicle could hardly squeeze through all those thick trees. What if a big boulder blocked his way? Or if he ran into a swamp? His hand fell listlessly to his side. Perhaps it would be better not to be so hasty about driving after her and to take time to think over alternatives.

He looked at his cell phone. He would call 911! The police would send a helicopter after them, with Phil eagerly volunteering to be lowered down to wherever Aziza was being kept prisoner.

He pressed the nine and the one and then paused. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea, either, he reflected glumly, as he slowly walked back inside the antique store. If he called the police and told them about a supernatural being kidnapping a damsel then most likely they would lock him up!

He flopped down again into his old chair and checked his messages, not that he had any. He thought about calling Azizah on her cell phone, but then he realized that, as she was tied up, she couldn't answer him, so what was the point? It was too bad, really, but the sad truth was that there was nothing practical he could do. Besides, maybe things weren't as serious as they seemed. Lilah had probably bound and gagged Azizah and then carried her away just so Azizah would keep quiet and listen to what Lilah had to say in private. Phil couldn't even blame her; there had been times he had wanted to gag Azizah himself!

It must be something like that, he assured himself. Lilah couldn't have anything really wicked planned. As soon as he had seen her, he had known she was really a very nice person, much easier to get along with than Azizah. And she had fallen to his charms right away, he was sure she had from the way she acted.

They were going to have a serious talk, though. Since she was his new girlfriend, she was going to have to give up seeing The Wolf. He would explain to her that that character was just plain no good. Why, he went around romancing all the women, moving from one to another without a thought! What kind of lowlife did that? She didn't need to associate with anyone like that and he was going to make sure she didn't!

It was easy for him to think that way, since Lilah was not present.

He imagined how delighted Lilah would be when she returned to the store and discovered he was waiting for her. "It's a good thing I didn't go after them. I'm sure they've settled their differences without my interfering. Why, they're probably the best of friends now. Just think how upset Azizah would have been with me if I had shown up and interrupted things!"

___

Azizah, meanwhile, continued to hope for Phil's arrival. Every sound she heard convinced her that he had arrived, only to prove to be a false alarm. She looked up in despair. It was hard to see for certain, but the ropes had worn away to practically nothing! How much longer could they support her?

Snap! Her left arm was now free! She spun wildly, the glasses flying off her face. The world became a blur. She reached out a hand to the side of the cliff. Snap! The other rope broke! For a fraction of a second, she was able to hold on, but her fingers could not maintain their grip. With a muffled scream, she fell straight down, the cliff curving away from her so there was nothing between her and the ground so very far below!

She closed her eyes, wondering what it would be like when she landed. What she did not expect would be that she would stop gently on a soft surface and that a strong arm would settle her into a seating position.

"Hey, baby, glad you could drop in."

"Wolfy!" she exclaimed in shock, tearing the tape from her mouth and removing the cloth. The Wolf leaned forward and sliced the ropes binding her legs with his claws. She stared at him in amazement. "Where did you come from?"

"Hey, baby, don't you remember I promised you a magic carpet ride?" The Wolf's sharp eyes spotted a familiar faint gleam of brown. He swooped down suddenly, snatching Azizah's eyeglasses from among a group of ferns before soaring up high again.

"That's better," said Azizah as her view of the world returned to normal. "Thanks for rescuing me, Wolfy," She gave him a kiss, aiming for his cheek, but The Wolf turned his head so it landed full on his lips instead.

"No problem, baby."

Azizah sighed. Couldn't The Wolf at least ask her if she was okay after her ordeal? Did he have to act so nonchalant about _everything_? She looked down at the carpet and noticed the magic bottle from the shop, its top sealed once again. A suspicion formed in her mind. "Um, Wolfy, did you trap Lilah in this?"

"Yeah, I figure she's better off inside there for a while until she can cool down."

"I think you're right," agreed Azizah. Then she suddenly remembered. Where was Phil? What would he think when he raced to the edge of the cliff and discovered the broken ropes? She had to let him know she was okay! She reached for her cell phone and pressed his button.

"Is that you, Azizah?!" he practically screamed when he answered. "Help! Get me out of here!"

"But where are you?" she asked in bewilderment.

"I'm with Lilah, only she's not being nearly as nice as she was before. I don't know why I thought I was in love with her; she must have cast a spell on me to make me act that way, but now I realize it's really you I…"

"Give me that!" ordered Lilah, snatching the phone away from him. "Listen to me, you interfering, little…."

Snap! Azizah closed her cell phone abruptly and looked at The Wolf, questions whirling in her eyes.

"Yeah, I guess I forget to mention that whatshisname is in there too," he said, tapping the bottle. "Things got kind of complicated back at the store, but I sorted them all out."

Azizah opened her mouth to object and then closed it slowly. She reviewed earlier events as her hand strayed toward her skirt pocket. Although Phil's sudden strength was due to a spell, Azizah knew enough about the nature of jinn to realize that his reaction to Lilah was no enchantment, except of the sort any woman can cast on a man.

"Good," she decided, leaving the pocketknife in her pocket. "I hope they find each other excellent company!"


End file.
